In America alone, people consume approximately 3 billion boxes of cereal per year. The bulk of that cereal is eaten at home. It is submitted that the primary reason for this is that transporting the necessary elements, i.e., a thermos bottle of milk, a container of cereal, a bowl, a spoon, a container of fruit, a supply of sugar or other sweetener, has, until now, been so cumbersome and troublesome to assemble the components as to make cereal an unattractive option for midday meal or snack. In addition, there is the significant problem of cleaning up the milk container and cereal bowl at school or work or allowing the milk to sour until returning home. This avoidance of cereal for meals away from home is in spite of the fact that cereal has nutritional advantages over other food options and would actually be preferred by a significant number of children and adults if the logistical hurdles could be overcome.
One attempt to make taking cereal for lunch more attractive is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,835 issued to David Ascone and reissued as Re. 35,437. The Ascone invention consists of a two compartment container interconnected by an orifice that has a valve 18 controlling flow of milk from a first compartment 12 to the second compartment 14 where the cereal is stored. A freeze pack 17 can be utilized to keep the milk chilled and removable cap 26 affords access to the second compartment for consuming the cereal and milk. This attempted solution has its limitations. Once the valve is opened, all the cereal in compartment 14 will be wetted and must be eaten. Further, the flow orifice is difficult to access and, therefore, hard to clean. Thirdly, the Ascone device lacks provision for separately transporting servings of fruit and sweetener. Lastly, Ascone's device would not be usable with a hot cereal since the cereal container could not be microwaved apart from the milk storage compartment and freeze pack.
The present invention overcomes these difficulties providing a compact, convenient device for transporting and serving as many as five healthy servings of cereal with fruit topping, or the like. The device, which may be marketed under the trademark STACK N' SACK, includes three principle components: a) a cereal container for receiving and transporting at least one serving of cereal; b) a separate cereal bowl unit; and c) an insulated compartment for maintaining a container of milk chilled. The insulated compartment has at least a gel pack portion which can be frozen and then inserted in the compartment to maintain a container of milk chilled for a period as long as 8 hours. Preferably, the insulated compartment comprises a freezable cozy, a cylindrical cup which can be inserted in a freezer and then placed around a milk container. The separate cereal bowl unit includes a first compartment which can receive a serving of cereal, a second compartment which is threadably attachable to the first which can hold a serving of fruit, yogurt or the like, and a third compartment, which can store a measured amount of sugar, brown sugar, or artificial sweetener, which can be threadably interconnected to the second compartment. The interconnecting threads are of the same pitch and the elements of the same diameter so that the fruit container, for example, can be omitted and the sweetener compartment attached directly to the cereal bowl. The cereal container can hold multiple servings of cereal which can be sequentially poured into the bowl unit for eating a serving at a time.
The milk container, which holds 12 oz of milk is a cylindrical vessel having an open top which is closed by a closure top threadably attachable to said cylindrical container, said closure top having a smaller pouring orifice which is sealed by a flip-top cap. A disk insert affords additional flexibility for the device's use. The disk can be inserted between the cylindrical freezable cozy and a plastic cap which engages an upper rim of the cozy to reduce the size of the opening in the top so the cozy can accommodate a smaller milk container such as a commercially available bottle or carton or a soon to be released new product known as "Chugs".
The three main components can be interconnected to form a unit which approximates the size of a conventional thermos, 33/4" in diameter by 101/2" tall. The insulated compartment nests within cereal bowl unit and is separated from the fruit compartment by only the uninsulated bottom of the cereal bowl. In this manner, the gel pack can chill the fruit compartment as well as keep the milk container cold. The compressible insulation surrounding the insulated compartment is squeezed into the cereal bowl and this provides a frictional retention force that keeps these two of the three principle components interconnected. The cereal bowl unit nests within the cereal container and a downwardly protruding flange on the bowl, which partially surrounds a pedestal thereof, threads onto an upper rim of the cereal container to maintain the container engaged with the other two components. A cereal bowl liner which can be disposable, is inverted and snapped over the top of the insulated compartment after the milk container is inserted therein. The cereal bowl liner can be turned upright and inserted in the cereal bowl so that cereal can be eaten from the bowl liner and the liner discarded to eliminate the need for washing. A cloth bag or sack receives the stacked components and a pull string closes the top of the bag and helps retain the stack as a transportable unit. In addition, tests have indicated the bag affords additional insulation that helps keep the milk chilled until use.
Should the consumer have access to a supply of milk, through a school milk program or the like, the cereal bowl unit can be filled with a single serving of cereal, fruit placed in its compartment and sweetener in its, and the bowl liner snapped to the top of the bowl. Alternatively, sweetener could be added to the fruit compartment or the fruit compartment omitted since the threads on the caps and pedestals make interconnection interchangeable. This individual cereal server which is 3 3/4" in diameter and 3" tall, can be easily fit into a lunch box with other lunch items.
Various other features, advantages and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after a reading of the following specification.